PositiveThe Independent (UK)Publishing these stories is brave, both because of reaction in Morocco and more progressive critiques: Slimani writes that she expects to be accused of \'purveying ‘orientalist clichés’ and of fuelling Islamophobic discourse\'. Yet, as she points out, Arab culture has a long history of eroticism, with more puritanical views arising from around the 19th century. Theology scholar Asma Lamrabet tells her that the obsession with virginity seems to have been imported from Europe, and she has been unable to find any clear text in the Koran banning sex before marriage ... While a step away from her previous work in tone, Sex and Lies is a continuation of a theme for Slimani: nobody wins when the true nature of our selves is hidden for the sake of appearances.